Social impact factors of irregular menstruation among married women of childbearing age

Objective To investigate social impact factors of irregular menstruation among Chinese married women of childbearing age and to provide references for health advice and policy development for health care of the women.Methods This study used data from the survey on the health and its risk factors among couples of childbearing age before pregnancy conducted in 2009 and 8691 married women in Shandong,Henan,Yunnan,and Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality were included as the study population.The distribution of irregular menstruation among the married women of childbearing age with different characteristics was analyzed with chi-squared test,and the social impact factors of irregular menstruation among the women was explored with binary-logistic regression.Results The proportion of irregular menstruation among the women was 17.6% (1526/8691).The differences in the distribution of irregular menstruation among the women with different education level and family income were statistically significant.Social impact factors associated with irregular menstruation included eating disorders(odds ratioOR=1.41,95% confidence interval95% CI=1.17-1.70),food preference(OR=1.49,95% CI=1.13-1.95),with little intake of poultry meat and egg(OR=1.24,95% CI=1.00-1.54),overweight(OR=1.49,95% CI=1.24-1.79),obesity(OR=1.98,95% CI=1.57-2.51),keeping pet at home(OR=1.26,95% CI=1.07-1.48),house decoration within six months(OR=1.33,95% CI=1.04-1.70),cosmetics use(OR=1.31,95% CI=1.12-1.54),perceived stress relationship among the family members(OR=1.40,95% CI=1.13-1.74),and self-rated bad familial economic or living condition(OR=1.75,95% CI=1.23-2.49) among the women.Conclusion Dietary nutritional status,environmental factors,behavior,and mental health situation are important factors affecting irregular menstruation among Chinese married women at childbearing age.